The UN's World Food Programme today (Tuesday) warned
that three million Tanzanians face severe food shortages
over the next several months due to drought-induced
crop failure in most regions of the country. As a result,
the country's national food deficit is estimated to
be as high as 916,000 MTs as announced by the government
yesterday. Ten per cent of this deficit -- 92,000
MTs -- will be required as emergency food aid. This
alarmingly high deficit is compounded by the problem
of Tanzania's low level of stocks in its Strategic
Grain Reserve for which the recommended level is 150,000
MTs, but which has now dwindled to just 17,000 MTs,
WFP said in an official statement. On Monday, President
Benjamin Mpaka declared a national food emergency and
banned all food exports.

WFP appeals to donors to help

WFP is preparing an emergency food aid operation in
response to the drought, and today appealed to donor
countries to make immediate contributions to ensure
that relief food can begin to quickly reach those most
in need. "Food donations typically take a minimum
of three to four months to arrive in Tanzania,"
stressed Irene Lacy, WFP Country Director for Tanzania.
"However, it is crucial that relief food distributions
get underway as early as September when food stocks
are expected to be exhausted."

After three weeks kicking its heels in the capital Kinshasa,
the UN mission to investigate allegations of mass killings
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has formally
demanded access to the interior. News organisations
reported the Togolese mission leader, Koffi Amega,
as saying in a statement released in the capital late
on Monday, he had asked the authorities for permission
to travel to the northwestern town of Mbandaka on Wednesday.
"Today, the investigating mission is entering
its fourth week in the country, but it is still awaiting
the authorisation to deploy to the field. Twice last
week we had to cancel scheduled deployments,"
Reuters reported the statement as saying. "We
therefore formally requested the authorisation to deploy
to Mbandaka, an area from which we have received serious
allegations of human rights violations." A UN
spokesman in Geneva said the request did not constitute
an "ultimatum" to the government of President
Laurent-Desire Kabila.

Meanwhile, DRC Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha accused
the mission of "playing politics". "To
give ultimatums, is unacceptable to us," he said
today during a visit to Brussels. According to AFP,
he added that the mission "was not prevented from
going anywhere" but its members "have to
say where they want to go" for security reasons.

Thousands flee fighting in eastern DRC

Several thousand people, mainly Congolese IDPs, have
fled the recent upsurge in fighting in eastern DRC
into northwestern Rwanda, news organisations and aid
workers report. Rwandan radio said some 5,000 refugees
had crossed over the border to Gisenyi. The radio reported
the refugees as saying former hardliners from the defeated
Hutu-dominated Rwandan army and the notorious Interahamwe
militia operating in the Masisi area of north Kivu
were attacking Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese in the
area. One humanitarian organisation said almost 4,000
IDPs had arrived in Gisenyi from Goma, adding that
only some 290 people remained in a transit camp which
held around 8,000 before the latest outbreak of fighting.
The radio reported the refugees as saying the attacks
started last month when gangs of Interahamwe and anti-Tutsi
Mai Mai warriors attacked and torched villages in the
area.

Rwandan military press on with return home

Rwandan soldiers, who helped Kabila's rebel army oust
former President Mobutu Sese Seko and take power, are
continuing to return home amid signs of growing tensions
between them and their Congolese counterparts. Aid
workers said several hundred returned to Rwanda through
Goma last week and more were arriving this week. One
humanitarian organisation said 800 Mai Mai had also
amassed at a camp just outside the town, prior to being
inducted into the Congolese army, and clashed with
Rwandan army soldiers. Rwandan patrol boats on Lake
Kivu are also reported to have clashed with the Mai
Mai, who sided with Kabila against Mobutu, but then
quickly fell out after he took power last May.

Meanwhile, Congolese radio reported the governor of
north Kivu province had issued a statement refuting
what it called "widespread rumours" of an
imminent attack on Goma by armed troops from neighbouring
countries. The DRC has "very good and brotherly
relations" with neighbouring countries, notably
Rwanda and Uganda, the governor was reported to have
stated. "It is inconceivable, or even impossible
that an invasion of DRC could come from our brother
and friend countries," the radio reported him
as saying.

Despite unrest, more Congolese refugees return

Despite unrest in north Kivu, more Congolese refugees
have returned to south Kivu from Tanzania. Aid workers
say over 1,000 have now returned across Lake Tanganyika
from the Tanzanian port of Kigoma to Uvira. UNHCR says
that at present some 19,000 refugees have registered
to be repatriated, keen to return home before the rains
set in. Regional experts say the vast majority of those
returning are believed to be from the Fulero ethnic
group and not the Bembe, many of whom are opposed to
Kabila's rule.

BURUNDI: Grenade blast kills three, injures 17

A grenade attack on a bar near the capital Bujumbura
killed three people and wounded 17 others, Reuters
reported an army spokesman as saying. "A grenade
was launched into a bar at 8.40 p.m. in Gatumba,"
Major Mamert Sinarinzi was quoted as saying. It was
not clear who was behind the attack.

Tutsi party begins lawsuit against regime

The mainly Tutsi party which once held sole power in
Burundi has begun legal action against the regime of
Major Pierre Buyoya over potential talks with Hutu
rebels, its leader said. AFP reported the court challenge
was disclosed as Hutu extremists killed seven people,
wounded 13 and kidnapped three others overnight in
an attack on a displaced persons' camp in southwestern
Burundi, according to the Tutsi-dominated army. Charles
Mukasi, chairman of Unity for National Progress (UPRONA),
late on Monday told AFP that his party had opened a
suit against Interior Minister Epitace Bayaganakandi
for "abuse of office and interference in UPRONA's
management". He has accused Lieutenant-Colonel
Bayaganakandi of working on behalf of Buyoya's regime
in seeking to break up UPRONA "to give the impression
that everybody is in favour of negotiations" with
extremist rebels waging a guerrilla war against the
government.

KENYA: Hundreds flee coast violence

Unrest on the Kenyan coast over the last month has forced
some 100 Kenyans to flee to the Tanzanian archipelago
of Zanzibar. According to local radio reports, the
refugees arrived in Pemba -- one of the islands that
make up the archipelago -- in canoes and boats. They
are to be relocated to Tanga, a town on the Tanzanian
border with Kenya, which has enough facilities to accommodate
the destitute, according to a Zanzibari government
official.

CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE: Fighting resumes after summit Warring
factions traded heavy weapons fire overnight on Monday
in Congo's capital Brazzaville in an immediate snub
to a ceasefire appeal issued by a summit of African
leaders. The clashes, reported by an AFP correspondent
in neighbouring Kinshasa, came hours after an African
summit called for a ceasefire between supporters of
President Pascal Lissouba and former military ruler
Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Nairobi, 16 September 1997, 15:30 gmt [ENDS]

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